Lesson Eight An Interactive Life

by Barbara Kantrowitz with Cooper Ramo

Ⅰ. Background Information 1) Newsweek: An American news weekly established in Dayton, Ohio in 1933. In

it domestic and international news is summarized, analyzed and categorized according to topics each week. It also has special sections devoted to arts, science, medicine, sports, etc. It is one of the three largest news weeklies of America and has a wide domestic and international circulation.

2) Barbara Kantrowitz and Joshua Cooper Ramo: regular contributors to Newsweek

3) N. J.: abbreviation for New Jersey, Eastern State of the U. S. on the Atlantic

4) Edison: Thomas Alva Edison (1847 -- 1931): U. S. inventor especially of electrical and communication devices, including the incandescent lamp, phonograph, and microphone

5) Beethoven: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), German composer. He is universally recognized as one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

6) off-off-off Broadway: an avant-garde theatrical movement in New York that stresses untraditional and radical experimentation

7) Terminator : an American science fiction movie series, starring the popular actor, ⅫArnold Schwarzengger. The number XII implies a future installment of the series.

8) Peter Jennings: anchorman for ABC's (American Broadcasting Company) World News Tonight program. In a recent ( 1993 ) nationwide poll for the best news anchorman conducted by Travel and Leisure weekly, Jennings came in second, losing to Dan Rather of CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) by one percentage point, but came in first as the most intelligent anchorman, beating Rather by 2 percentage points.

9) no-brainer: perhaps meaning no longer necessary to rack one's brains to select a TV program one would like to see

10) Calif.: abbreviation for California, State of the SW. U. S., on the Pacific Coast

11) VCR: Video Cassette Recorder

12) J. Crew: a catalogue published by J. Crew, a company selling casual wear for the rich

13) Victoria's Secret: a catalogue published by Victoria's Secret, a company selling women undergarments

14) couch-potato: a person who spends most of his time on a couch watching TV

15) channel surfing: skimming quickly through various TV channels to find a suitable program

16) remotes: remote control devices

17) Home Shopping Network: a TV network that displays all kinds of goods which people at home can pick and buy

18) Philips Interactive: an interactive machine manufactured by Philips Interactive Media of America

19) Smithsonian: Smithsonian Institution, research and education center, at Washington D. C.: founded 1846. Today it is a vast complex, housing many museums, art galleries, research institutes, etc.

20) Cybercity: a city controlled by computers, etc.

21) Apple: an American computer company 22) MIT: acronym for Massachusets Institute of Technology

23) Proxmire: William Proxmire, U. S. Senator (1957). Proxmire opposed wasteful government spending, especially by the military.

24) Golden Fleece award: a prize awarded to a government project considered to be the most silly, wasteful and corrupt

25) cartoon mutant: human beings and animals reduced to cartoon forms

Ⅱ. Questions after the detailed study of the text

1. What will an interactive life of the future be like? Describe some of its possible features.

2. Why should a person step into the past to get an idea of what the future might bring?

3. How would Peter Jennings become obsolete?

4. What is called “fake interactive”?

5. Why would video telephony mean an end of anonymous phone calls?

Ⅲ. Analysis and Appreciation of the text

1. The outline of literature

2. Type of literature: a piece of exposition

3. The purpose of a piece of exposition: to inform of explain

4. Ways of developing the thesis of a piece of exposition: --comparison, contrast, analogy, identification, illustration, analysis, definition, etc.

Ⅳ. Effective Writing Skills

1. making effective use of specific verbs

2. using elliptical and short, simple sentences to achieve certain effect

Ⅴ.Special difficulties in the text

1. Paraphrasing some sentences 2. Some computer terms

VI . Rhetorical Devices

metaphor: Will government regulate messages sent out on this vast data highway? ….interactivity may widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, t

he rich and wired vs. the poor and unplugged.

VII . Detailed study of the text 1. conceive of: It was difficult to conceive of traveling to the moon. Can you conceive of her doing such a stupid thing?

2. pin to: The warning was pinned to the door with an arrow. pin on: Many parents pin their hopes on the children.

3. hype: The movie has been hyped up for beyond its work.

4. individualize: Does your style of writing individualize your works?

5. shoot = film I shot my uncle when he was cooking. She will shoot many photographs during the holiday.

6. beam out: The World Cup Final was beamed live from Britain to Japan.

7. nail down: It is hard to nail down specifics about how the electronic device will actually work.

8. run up: You will run up a huge gas bill if you leave the heater on.

9. cater to: The cook can’t cater to everyone’s taste.

10. round up: The guide rounded up the tourists.

11. analogy: Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction, and abduction, where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general. The word analogy can also refer to the relation between the source and the target themselves, which is often, though not necessarily, a similarity, as in the biological notion of analogy.

12. clean up: The hostess cleaned up the room after party. He cleaned up a small fortune. The mayor is determined to clean up the city.

13. on the condition that: You can get the money on the condition that you finish the work.

14. fall over oneself to do sth.: The mother fell over herself to organize the party well.

15. clog: The lotion won’t clog the pores on your face. Do not clog your memory with useless part.

16. seek out: The teacher sought him our to tell him of his success.

17. compatible: The couple separated because they were not compatible. This printer is compatible with most microcomputers.

18. feed: The moving belt feeds raw materials into the machine. Several small streams were fed into the lake.

19. keep tabs on: The boss of the company has kept tabs on who has used the phone in the working

time. The radar keeps tabs on the enemy’s activities.

20. spy on sb. I am sure someone spies on me. I hate those who like to spy into other people’s affairs.

21. call for: Several candidates were called for a second interview. I will call for you at 7 o’clock. The trouble calls for the quick action of the government.

22. levy on: The government levied on his property.

23. access to: The only access to the village is across the river.

24. it’s one thing…, quite another… It’s one thing to play animated adventure games occasionally,

quite another to play them all day long.

25. hang on: You go ahead, I will hang on here until the others come. I am afraid that the line is busy on, would you like to hang on a

minute?

VIII. Assignment

Write a short composition on the following topic: -- The Impact of Science and Technology on Human Civil

ization